naked bike ride london 2012

london
this year's ride was brilliant. i just completed it. 
We were all a bit apprehensive about the weather, because it has been rather rainy and windy for the few days before. 
but the day dawned dry albeit cloudy, but the sun came out but it ws very windy. 


John and I  rode to the starting point at the wellington arch. And at 3pm, we all got naked. and took pictures. There were not that many photographers in the early stage as they all thought we were starting in hyde park corner, like previous years. 


but nearer the starting time, they all came and crowded the lane. naked women, esp the young girl in front of me got the most fierce reaction from the photographers. as if they have never seen a naked girl before. but there u are, women really are pestered by them. 


makes me so glad to be a man, for they ignore us. and thank goodness for that.


it was a sunny day, when we started. There was  a lot of bunching up, because the organisers stop us to allow others to catch up, as well as let traffic cross the junctions, but it makes for a very difficult ride, because it is awkward to maintain balance when the bike is going so slowly.


the extra fun bit for me is the loo stop at lincoln inn fields, where there was a long queue for the toilets, a string of naked men trailing out of the men loo. haha.


near the end, it got a bit cold, because we took so long . usually we are back to the starting point in about 2-3hrs, but this time it was closer to 4hrs before we got back.


last time we would linger naked at the end, but today it was cold and i for one got covered and sat down to enjoy my hot thermos flask of tea, and biscuits while i waited for john. 


when i got back, i downloaded the pictures to zurker, and sent pics of john to him by email. and pics of myself to my friend david in brighton . he dared me to get a hard on picture during the ride, but i am afraid i did not have one. it was rather cold for one thing. 

this guy who posted this (link) has a good selection or the ride today.

riding naked in london naked bike ride 2011

london
One of the highlights of the year of living in london is to ride naked through the centre of london in the naked bike ride.this is the 8th year. it was on yesterday. And it happened to fall on my birthday this year and i cannot think of any better way to celebrate it.

Its an annual affair that i look forward to participate.
this time the route is circular and took us from hyde park corner back to wellington arch. And we approached that by riding up the mall towards buckingham palace. This is a new addition.

Another new addition to the route was riding round lincoln inns fields. That was put there to filter and control the numbers entering covent garden, (I suspect this is the case, because i and a lot of others went round that square twice, because they were controlling the numbers allowed to go on to covent garden.) but it also gives us a loo stop, as there was a cottage there. haha.

it was surreal to see a crowd of naked guys  going in  and out and lining up along the urinals. All stark bollock naked. it is like a preliminary cruising scene from some porn movie, except it did not progress further. haha.

Last year there were guys pissing through the railings, and i think this loo stop answers that call of nature. I did not realise i need to go until i was at the urinal, and it was a relief.

The weather was kind, even though it was cold at one stage, but apart from a small short drizzle near trafalgar square, it was dry.
the fun thing was that not only were we able to ride naked through central london, but quite a number of groups were cut off from each other by the traffic lights, and there were lots of these groups wandering around as they got lost and we were able to just straggle back and taking our time about it.


Today, sunday, it was raining, and i sure am glad we had it yesterday. Generally, we had good weather for all the naked bike rides in london.
link to a video of the ride in utube.I am in there, if u can find me. haha.
(utube will ask u to register, no need, just click on that sign in box.)
here is another video in utube showing the beginning of the ride.

london naked bike ride 2010

photo taken by john G.

london

It was on yesterday, saturday 12june. This year's is the first time that we did not have a police escort. At first, people must have felt apprehensive for not having one. I remember when I first joined in the naked bike ride that i felt the police presence was a disadvantage.
but over the years, one do get used to being escorted. Even though it means we ride continuously, the police not wanting us to loiter, and to bunch up together. Since i rode so slowly, i always ended up last even though i started amongst the first, and they always ask me to hurry up and catch up.

it is one of the facts of life, that people get used to things, and we got so used to the police presence that this year when the police said they have no more money to provide an escort and we are on our own, people felt lost and apprehensive.

But the ride went ahead.

I noticed there were very few bikers at the start. So few the spectators outnumbered us. they were surrounding us and taking photos, and i think that might have put off a lot of naked bikers. One chinese girl wanted to pose with me and did.

And the spectators even narrowed the route out of the park, so that we have to go single file along the narrow path way between masses of people taking photos and videos on their digital cameras. One would have thought they would be used to naked people by now, but i guess every year, new people come to look. haha. of course some of them might be friends of the bikers come to record the day for their friends.

We , john fr poole, tim frm kingston, adrian and david frm the new forest who had done the southampton ride yesterday, and will be doing the brighton one tomorrow (which is today as i write) , phil from isle of wight who will be staying overnight at my place , all of us were unfazed with the attention, because we are used to going naked.

The crowd was a bit intrusive, but once clear of the park and on the road things were fine.

We had to stop at traffic lights , or rather, we stop for the rest to catch up with us, and with no police urging the pace, we took a more leisurely time about it.

For the first time, we can pause at piccadilly circus and though the shy might feel awkward, i like it. it is not everyday u can ride and hang around the centre of london naked without being arrested. haha.

We were able to stop at other places too. take photos, or just enjoy being there naked.

Entering the final stretch, near southwark bridge, i noticed a huge mass of bikers far more than have passed me, and i wonder whether the greater mass of naked bikers joined the march along the route, rather than run the gauntlet of photographers at the beginning.

i think it is great not having the police escort us. And that will be so in future.

(Ostensibly, the official line is that road works in oxford st caused the change in the route,but anyone will know we could take any of the parallel streets north of it. I bet u it is a combination of the metropolitan police not wanting us to end at wellington arch, it being right behind the garden wall to the Queen's garden at buckingham palace, and the fact that the Met police have no more money to escort us, so that by getting us to end in the city of london they dont have to provide an escort, passing the baby to the city of london police to take the strain if they wish. In the end, we saw very few police about. And the peaceful nature of the march will ensure that this route will be the one for future marches.)

We ended in a cul de sac,near the tower of london; leading into a multi storey car park and hotel, which must have inconvenienced the regular users a lot, but it was not for long. Maybe next year, we might get permission to use the ground round city hall. This year the organisers say they did not have enough volunteers to negotiate for permission.

We chatted to a guy from italy, and at the end, to a guy who was american, studying in newcastle. One guy jogged naked all the way, some guys rollerskated naked.

We all agreed this year, there was a big majority of young guys with nice bodies and bums. Not as many women as before.But dont take my word for it because i dont notice women. Somehow they seem to get into my blind spot and i dont see them.haha. I guess photographers concentrate on the women, which must be very tiresome for the women. my friends said there was a child carried on a bike joining in, but i did not see it. there are not many families joining in, and i think that may be right but again dont take my word for it... i dont notice families.. they seem to be in my blindspot too.

You can see this is a very subjective account of the ride.

Because of the coaches which were wanting to come in and out of the car park, we cannot stay long blocking the road, so most people got dressed and disperse. Though some hardy souls carried on being naked. It was in the shadow of some buildings, so it was quite chilly.
There were lots of tourists, children amongst them, and all of them were smiling and good natured as well as having looks of amazement. I daresay this is not a normal sight, to see a huge mass of naked bikers in the middle of a busy city.

I discovered that i can control my bike at slow paces when i stand up on the pedals. Very useful trick. In future i might be able to stop on the pedal, so no need to put my feet on the ground.

I arranged to make dinner for the others at my flat and it turned out very well. Even though i lost two of my friends coming back to the flat they managed to find the flat. they told me later that one of them had his bike chain came off. Our ride back to my place was very easy and quick.

First time i used the tupperware jelly mould (50p) i bought from a charity shop, and it was so good, i shall be making jelly as my dessert of choice now for any gathering in my flat. haha.

I did not take anypictures, but john and the others did, so i shall post them up when/if i get them.

Another year of naked biking come and gone. these things repeat themselves every year, but because it is only once a year, it is a lot of fun for us to take part.

naked bike ride 2009

london

Yesterday, john and I went riding in the naked bike ride in london. we rode to the start point, near the achilles statue, at hyde park corner at about 3pm. Allready there was a big crowd, but not a lot of bicycles. we found out why, because the riders were gathered a bit of a distance from the statue. A lady with a bike came shouting that it was about to start. As we went further into the trees we can see people undressing and a crowd lining the route.

We stripped off just when the ride began, and cut through the crowd to join the head of the ride. In front of me was a chinese guy, with a nice back, and he was very excited at being there. I overheard it was his first time. And whilst we were waiting, he saw his friends in the crowd, taking his photo, and he at first seemed to be embarrassed but then when his friends were amused by it, he reverted to being at ease.

The route this time was longer, going through parts of the city of london, rather than through covent garden. I noticed the crowd coming forward a lot more and encroaching onto the road, and a steward shouting at them to get off the road in vain. As there was not enough stewards to enforce it and so parts of oxford st was narrowed because of that.

I can understand why they did not take us through covent garden, as the roads are much smaller and the crowd harder to control. The spectators all want to take photos, and so keep coming out into the road to take it.

I find it lovely to be able to ride naked through all the famous london landmarks at least once in a year without being arrested.

The weather really brightened up at the end of the ride, and we were able to sit on the grass and enjoy the sun and the sights.

naked bike ride

click on the picture to enlarge. Taken on the west side of trafalgar square with the canadian embassy on the left, and the national gallery in the background. Picture courtesy of john field.

london

We thoroughly enjoyed our naked bike ride through the centre of london yesterday. It is not for the shy, because the streets were lined with people taking photos and looking. There was a thai festival in trafalgar square when we rode past, and there was a large crowd there, who must have wondered what hit them when a horde of us swept past, nakedlike anything.
I only saw one overtly sexual thing (if u consider a erect cock as sexual, it is not always so as we cannot control our erection) during the ride,that was a guy with a hard on, posing in front of a building's entrance, otherwise hard cocks were not seen. Considerng that the chuffing of the saddle gave me a hard on I am surprised not more people got one. but i think it is because i was sitting on a old fashioned saddle with springs.
It was a very high profile route, going through all the famous london sites, and returning to wellington arch. The weather behaved itself, till the end, when riding back to the flat , it began to rain but it was shortlived.
6 of us came back to the flat where I had set the oven timer to roast two chicken, so we were greeted on our return with the lovely smell of roast chicken.
There were lots more younger guys this year, and I got the impression, seconded by my friends that there were more guys with good looking bodies this year than before.
I started at the head of the ride, but ended up at the tail, being asked to hurry up the police escorts on their bikes. One of them said I should change gear, and I shouted back that I dont know how!
There were so many levers in this bike that I found in the recycle bin. Anyway, i like being on slow gear. I want to enjoy the ride not rush through it. haha.
The day ended in some lovely sex amongst us and that to me is a day well spent. (I forgot that the curtain windows were opened throughout but the lights were not on, so I hope the people on the opposite block did not notice the activities going on.

Added 17.6.08 it seems there were about 1000people taking part.